Italy’s competition watchdog has opened an investigation into Ryanair on suspicion that the low-cost Irish airline has been abusing its dominant position at the expense of travel agencies and consumers.
The Competition and Market Authority charged on Wednesday that Ryanair allegedly uses its position as the peninsula’s leading airline to extend its hold on the market by offering other services such as hotel room reservations and car rentals. This, the watchdog said, was detrimental to both online and traditional travel agencies and consumers in particular.
In its statement, the institution noted that Ryanair appeared to be hindering agencies from buying tickets directly on their own sites and forcing traditional agencies to go through an intermediary platform to acquire tickets, “on much less favourable terms,with regard to price, services available and after-sale management of the tickets.”
“Ryanair’s conduct, aimed at limiting the ability of travel agencies to sell airline tickets, which in general is the first purchase made to organise a holiday and represents the 'gateway' for the sale of other services, affects not only on agencies but also on consumers,” the Authority said.
The result has been “poorer conditions, both in terms of quality and quantity, and unjustified difficulties in managing bookings,” the watchdog charged.
Ryanair is currently in open conflict with the Italian government which, faced with rising air fares, decided in early August to cap ticket prices on flights to Sardinia and Sicily.
